Nissan UCI World Cup - Mont Sainte Anne

By Mike Davis

XC

Mont Sainte Anne, Canada, hosted North America's only XC/DH/4X UCI World Cup round at the weekend. In uncharacteristically cool weather, a relatively small men's XC field lined up for seven laps of a tricky course.

As at Houffalize, the race for first was between Julien Absalon and Jose Hermida, but this time it was Absalon's turn to take the top step of the podium. Canadian Geoff Kabush was third. With three wins out of four, Absalon has a comfortable lead in the overall standings.

The women's race was again missing reigning champion Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaa, still recovering from illness. All eyes were on local rider Marie-Helene Premont, but a crash on lap two lost her time. A storming final lap got her up to fourth spot, behind Sabine Spitz, Ren Chengyuan and winner Irina Kalentyeva.

Going into Mont Sainte Anne, Margarita Fullana was leading the series, but her fifth place in Canada has dropped her to second place behind Kalentyeva.

Results

Men

ABSALON Julien (ORBEA) 1:54:49.33
HERMIDA RAMOS Jose Antonio (MULTIVAN MERIDA BIKING TEAM) 1:55:12.78
KABUSH Geoff 1:56:15.65
SAUSER Christoph 1:56:45.49
SCHURTER Nino (SWISSPOWER MTB TEAM) 1:57:33.51

Women

KALENTYEVA Irina 1:39:00.42
CHENGYUAN Ren 1:39:10.75
SPITZ Sabine (GHOST INTERNATIONAL RACING TEAM) 1:39:25.28
PREMONT Marie-Helene (ROCKY MOUNTAIN HAYWOOD) 1:39:46.59
FULLANA Margarita (SPIUK-TAU CERAMICA) 1:40:01.25

Overall standings

Men

ABSALON Julien 950
HERMIDA RAMOS Jose Antonio 680
SAUSER Christoph 640
RAVANEL Cedric 510
PAULISSEN Roel 500

Women

KALENTYEVA Irina 764
FULLANA Margarita 700
CHENGYUAN Ren 648
PREMONT Marie-Helene 640
SPITZ Sabine 600

DH

A long, dry and very fast course was the scene for the third round of the UCI DH World Cup. Steve Peat was the fastest rider on the top half of the course, but he couldn't match Sam Hill or Greg Minnaar over the rest of it - it was Hill first, Minnaar second and Peat third.

In the overall standings, it's still very much anyone's series. No one rider has dominated the results, and while Sam Hill moves to the top of the leader board there's not much in it. And a top-ten placing for Marc Beaumont in Canada keeps him in the top five overall.

The women's race saw some drama, with the finals being stopped after Scarlett Hagen's crash near to the finish line. The riders already on the course - Marielle Saner, Celine Gros and Tracey Hannah - had to do a rerun. This didn't do Saner any favours - a flat in her rerun put her down to 20th place.

Sabrina Jonnier won her second round of 2007 ahead of Tracy Moseley and Emmeline Ragot. Jonnier's win gives her a substantial lead in the overall standings.

Results

Men

HILL Samuel (IRON HORSE / MONSTER ENERGY) 4:29.58
MINNAAR Greg (TEAM G-CROSS HONDA) 4:31.27
PEAT Steve (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 4:31.30
LEHIKOINEN Matti (TEAM G-CROSS HONDA) 4:33.00
BAREL Fabien (KONA LES GETS) 4:34.64

Women

JONNIER Sabrina (IRON HORSE / MONSTER ENERGY) 5:04.45
MOSELEY Tracy (KONA LES GETS) 5:06.77
RAGOT Emmeline 5:16.90
HANNAH Tracey 5:16.92
GROS Celine 5:18.77

Overall standings

Men

HILL Samuel 557
PEAT Steve 525
LEHIKOINEN Matti 416
MINNAAR Greg 360
BEAUMONT Marc 306

Women

JONNIER Sabrina 690
RAGOT Emmeline 540
MOSELEY Tracy 480
SANER Marielle 405
HANNAH Tracey 380

4X

Strong performances from British riders in the 4X event, with Scott Beaumont and Fionn Griffiths both placing second in their respective finals. Brian Lopes got the better of Beaumont in the men's, while Anneke Beerten won the women's. In the overall standings, Lopes now has a comfortable lead over second-placed Gee Atherton, while Beerten and Jill Kintner are still very close at the top of the women's table.